Homemade Cranberry Apricot Sauce

Hello! It’s back to regular blogging about everyday food, holidays, and exercise. If you missed any of my Foodbuzz posts, click on the Foodbuzz Blogger Fest tag on the right column to see them all. It was a great weekend, but nice to come back to cool weather too.

I ran 6 miles on Monday morning, which was a great way to start off the week. My pace hovered right at 11 minutes per mile for each mile, which is good for me, and faster than my speed when my distance is longer. I’m hoping cool weather makes me go a tad faster. I would be thrilled to run the half marathon (less than 4 weeks away, oh geez) at 11 minutes per mile average.

I am still amazed every time I run a distance longer than 3 miles that it has become so much easier. Not easy, but easier.

New CultureMap column:

First, I have a new column posted over at CultureMap’s site about the dangers of running without identification or paying attention to your surroundings. Go check it out and leave a comment. It’s not as light and fluffy as my other columns.

Cranberry Apricot Sauce:

I have mentioned before that I love Thanksgiving, and I jumped at the chance to make one of my favorite Thanksgiving side dishes–cranberry sauce.

This came from a Rachael Ray recipe that gives classic cranberry sauce a twist and extra flavor.

Ingredients:

• 2 12-ounce bags of fresh cranberries
• 2/3 C orange juice
• 1/2 C dried apricot halves, sliced
• 1/2 C white sugar
• 1/2 C lightly packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp grated orange peel
• dash salt

Instructions:

In a large saucepan, bring all ingredients to a boil on medium heat, stirring frequently. Cook until cranberries pop and mixture thickens, about 10 minutes. Let cool and garnish with dried apricot.

It’s that easy with few ingredients. It also freezes well. You will never need to eat cranberry sauce out of a can! Please don’t tell me you do that.

Then I had a random flavors dinner of taco turkey with my cranberry sauce. Turkey goes with cranberries, no matter how it’s cooked, right? It also had fresh green beans, spanish rice, lettuce, and crackers. I just wanted to eat the cranberry sauce before I froze it while it was fresh and hot!

I love the pop of the fresh cranberries, the citrus from the orange juice and zest are great with the apricot and the tartness of the cranberries, and the color is so pretty. It even got an endorsement by Jeffrey. But he wouldn’t eat it with his taco meat turkey.

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